This invention relates generally to sunshades and protective cushion devices and particularly to sunshades and impact absorbing devices for use with automobile seats for infants and small children. Still more particularly, this invention relates to an inflatable sunshade and cushioning device that may be demountably attached to an automobile seat for infants and small children and which absorbs impacts to prevent injury to the occupant during collisions and sudden changes in velocity of the automobile.
It is well known that safety considerations dictate that an infant passenger in an automobile should be restrained within a specially designed seat rather than being held in the arms of an adult. High accelerations caused by automobile collisions and sudden applications of the brakes to avoid collisions can develop forces sufficient to remove a child from the grasp of even a very strong adult. Such forces arise as a consequence of Newton's second law of motion, which is often expressed mathematically as F=ma, where F is the force on an accelerating object, m is the mass of the object and a is the acceleration of the object. Accelerations of 10 to 20 times the acceleration of gravity are not uncommon in automobile collisions, in which case the force felt by a person attempting to restrain a child would be 10 to 20 times the child's weight. Another viewpoint of the problem is that an unrestrained child would continue to move at the initial velocity of an automobile just before a collision whereas the automobile has essentially stopped. The child would then probably collide with the interior of the automobile at a high speed and suffer injury.
Lap and shoulder belts designed for adults and large children typically do not provide adequate restraint for infants and small children who tend to slide out of such devices. In recognition of the problems associated with infant passengers, many jurisdictions have enacted legislation that requires adults to place infant automobile passengers in specially designed seats.
Although the infant seats have proven a significant benefit to infant safety concerns, there are several difficulties associated with the use of such infant automobile seats. Many children are uncomfortable when strapped or otherwise restrained in such seats. A child becomes particularly uncomfortable when confined to a seat and exposed to sunlight and the resultant heat therefrom. The heating effect of exposure to sunlight and confinement in the seat often causes even a normally well-behaved child to cry or otherwise create a disturbance, which is annoying to other occupants of the automobile and distracting to the driver.
In addition, typical infant automobile seats, while providing adequate protection in the event of a collision, still have insufficient cushioning to avoid causing a great amount of discomfort to a child during sudden changes of speed or direction of the automobile.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a device for use with a conventional infant seat to protect the child therein against injury and discomfort in both major and minor collisions, while at the same time, shading the occupant of the seat from exposure to the uncomfortable heating effects of sunlight.